Hong Kong/Macau

Hong Kong was a good way to finish China. Actually it was not much of a finish to China but more of a trip back to the US. It definitely felt less Chinese than many parts of San Francisco and New York do. Everyone spoke English, tons of ex-pats (largely British and Australian), and a very modern city.

A few highlights from touring the city include the 800 meter long set of escalators that takes you from down by the waterfront up to the mid-levels on the hill where most of the hotels are, eating a Burger King Big Fish sandwich up on top of Victoria's Peak, a few nice ferry rides around from high-end shopping mall to shopping mall, and finding hot, fresh krispy kreme donuts.



One of the highlights was definitely a random night out Friday. The Stanford group I met in Yunnan also happened to be in Hong Kong for the night, so we met up for a big fun dinner. For different portions of the meal, I brought a few friends who were in town from school and from New York. The other group also had a few friends who lived in Hong Kong. Thosew friends brought some more friends. We ended up having one of those great its-a-small-world nights with a good italian dinner that could have been in little italy and then a few sierra nevadas at a brewpub that could have been in san francisco.

The last stop on the China circuit - Macau - was a pleasant surprise. It had many things I like: cool casinos, lots of waterfront areas, and great portuguese food.

The town/SAR/country of Macau still retains a lot of its Portuguese heritage. Signs on stores were an interesting mix of portuguese and cantonese with occasional bits of english haphazardly thrown in. It was pleasant, walkable and felt more like being in Peru than in China. I even managed to get a workout in one of the parks. The blackjack dealers at the Wynn however were not so welcoming.